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Posted by: Megan Harris
In the diary that he kept while serving in France during World War I, Private First Class James Rudolph Sorenson made short entries describing each day’s most notable events. On August 11, 1918, he wrote, “Fired [gun barrages]. Valley was shelled heavily twice by the enemy. Our battery lost some horses and had one man …
Posted in: Veterans History Project
Posted by: Megan Harris
The following is a guest post by VHP Digital Conversion Specialist Matt McCrady, and is the fourth in a five-part series of blog posts related to correspondence in Veterans History Project collections. Like the soldiers discussed in the 1980s song about the Vietnam War, “19,” Corporal Robert Geisler was just 19 years old when he …
Posted in: Veterans History Project
Posted by: Megan Harris
This is the third in a series of blog posts related to correspondence in Veterans History Project collections. Not long after I started working at the Veterans History Project (VHP), I came across a collection that immediately mesmerized me. Pertaining to Army Corporal Jose Mares, who became a prisoner of war during the Korean War, …
Posted in: Oral History, Veterans History Project
Posted by: Megan Harris
During February and March 2015, the Veterans History Project will be running a series of blog posts discussing correspondence collections. The following is a guest post by Digital Conversion Specialist Matt McCrady. Many of the young men drafted into service in World War II arrived at boot camp at the height of physical fitness, fresh …
Posted in: Oral History, Veterans History Project
Posted by: Megan Harris
Writing from Normandy on June 13th, 1944–a week after D-Day–Navy Lieutenant Tracy Sugarman explained his thoughts and emotions during the invasion to his wife, June: I thought a lot about you, Junie dear – and I was so grateful to you and for you that it seemed to encompass my entire feelings. Above all else …
Posted in: Veterans History Project
Posted by: Lisa Taylor
As a native Washingtonian, I grew up in a predominantly African American community and proudly attended D.C. Public Schools, where Black History was taught as a regular part of the curriculum, and not just during February. As far as my elementary school music teacher was concerned, “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing,” also known as “The …
Posted in: African Americans, Cultural Heritage, Narratives, Oral History, Storytelling, Veterans History Project
Posted by: Lisa Taylor
It’s been three weeks since you toasted to the new year and made a fresh list of resolutions. Who cares that your coffee-stained 2014 list is somewhere crumpled up next to your unused gym shoes at the back of your junky closet? Forget about that. This time it’s for real. This year you will … …
Posted in: Holidays, Narratives, New Year's Day, Oral History, Storytelling, Veterans History Project
Posted by: Megan Harris
In case you missed it, this past holiday season, we explored the meaning of home–how members of the military have missed home, returned home, and recreated a sense of home far away from loved ones. All of this reflection got me thinking about my own definition of home and the specific places that I’ve called …
Posted in: Veterans History Project